Event Horizon
by naboru narluin
Summary: On a space trip, Onslaught and his team comes across an abandoned spaceship and Blast Off starts to act weirdly. / G1/Event Horizon (Movie AU) / Onslaught, Blast Off, Vortex, Brawl /dark, sci-fi themes, suspense/horror


**Title:** Event Horizon  
**Warnings:** dark, sci-fi themes, suspense/horror  
**Continuity/Fandom:** G1/Event Horizon (Movie AU)  
**Characters:** Onslaught, Blast Off, Vortex, Brawl  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Disclaimer:** Sadly, nothing is mine.  
**28 Blast Off Meme****Prompt:** Angsty  
**Summary:** On a space trip, Onslaught and his team comes across an abandoned spaceship and Blast Off starts to act weirdly.  
**Beta:** **ultharkitty**

**Note:** It's Event Horizon movie AU, because it's set before the rescue mission, before the Event Horizon is destroyed/leaves again.  
The Eden Log code which Onslaught mentions is also mentioned here. (The fic about the whole code with description will be posted eventually. )

**Event Horizon**

Onslaught woke up from his light recharge when a shock travelled through his frame.

The metal around him produced a low whine, and Blast Off suddenly decelerated. The commander shook his head in confusion.

In front of him, through the window of Blast Off's alt-mode, he saw part of the huge blue planet whose orbit Blast Off had wanted to use to accelerate.

"Why are you decreasing speed?" Onslaught asked, edgily. He didn't want this mission to be delayed.

Blast Off didn't answer.

Onslaught frowned, and took a closer look out of the window.

The glowing blue was almost everything that could be seen, and it lit up the surrounding area in the cold colour as well. It drowned out the stars, and merely a shadow of a moon was noticeable.

That, and a black silhouette that appeared even darker than space due to the planet's reflected light.

"What's that?" Onslaught wanted to know. His tone was more demanding than before, making it clear he expected an answer.

"A human space vessel." Blast Off's voice had an off-note to it that the gestalt leader couldn't interpret.

He didn't ask about it, however, because pictures of a closer view showed up on one of Blast Off's console screens.

The spaceship looked vacant.

"Event Horizon," Onslaught read the name out loud. "What do you know about this ship?"

Even though the shuttleformer hated the human race for being organic and primitive, he still knew a surprising amount about their space programs and technology.

"Nothing," Blast Off said, and Onslaught knew he was lying.

"Fly closer. I'm going to wake Vortex and Brawl." The commander stood up. He entered the cargo hold in which the tank and heliformer recharged close together. They were still connected after an interface that Onslaught hadn't want to be witness of, and so he'd ordered them to go to the cargo hold.

The gestalt leader was actually a little sorry for Blast Off having no chance to evade it. And for them both having easily bored and aroused team mates…

Onslaught sighed as he kicked Brawl's leg.

Maybe he should have bought Swindle with him, but then he'd have had to deal with the greedy mech on a crystal-covered planet.

"Wake up!" Onslaught said, and mused on his team. No matter who he bought with him, there was always trouble and annoyance.

Vortex stirred before Brawl, and vented air loudly. He muttered something incoherent during reboot, then his optics flickered online.

"Hehe." The 'copter's voice was still staticky. "You wanna join in?"

"Get up, we have work to do."

"We're already there?" Brawl asked, sounding drowsy. At least he was responsive now.

"No, but we came across something." Onslaught went to one of Blast Off's side windows.

It seemed the shuttle had stopped completely, because the other spaceship hadn't come closer.

"Blast Off, bring us closer to the vessel. We're going to inspect it."

"Oh, what vessel?" Vortex asked cheerfully, and disconnected himself from Brawl.

"There is an abandoned human spaceship, it looks interesting." Onslaught glanced at one of Blast Off's cameras when there was no sign of thrusters activating. "Blast Off!"

It took almost another klik until the shuttle's engines started, and a shudder ran through the walls.

The commander shook his head.

In the meantime, Brawl and Vortex had got up, and stood next to him to stare out of the window.

"Yo, that looks kinda scary," Brawl said, tilting his head.

"Why is it abandoned?" Vortex muttered, his voice as though he was frowning behind his visor.

"We're going to find out." Onslaught crossed his arms, and leant with his back against the wall. He didn't like the fact that Blast Off wasn't honest with him about the ship.

* * *

It took almost a joor to get close enough to the Event Horizon to see it more closely. It was almost four times as big as Blast Off, and that with the shuttle being much larger than a human space shuttle.

The dimensions of the human ship were quite impressive.

They were flying close to the letters of the ship's name when Onslaught issued his orders. "Blast Off, you're going to record our measurements from the inside, and I want you to scan the ship so that we have a map. Brawl, you and Vortex-"

"No!" Blast Off interrupted; everyone froze.

All three mechs looked up at the closest camera.

"What do you mean, _no_?" Onslaught's anger was evident in his tone.

There was no answer, only the sound of the cockpit door being shut and locked.

"_Blast Off!_"

Vortex and Brawl looked at each other, then out again at the dark metal of the bigger ship.

Onslaught guessed that they weren't so fond of investigating it anyway, but if there was technology on it that made a visit worthwhile, Onslaught didn't see a reason not to enter.

Apparently Blast Off didn't think that way.

The shuttle kept quiet while he flew alongside the hull. They reached the ship's nose, and there Blast Off stopped.

Another shock of the sudden decrease in speed travelled along his plating, and Onslaught could hear his vents puffing air to adjust his position.

"Blast Off! What are you doing? We already passed the entry docking station."

Blast Off didn't reply.

A metal creak echoed through the cargo hold, and at first Onslaught couldn't place the sound. He needed a few astroseconds to realise it was the mechanical arm that was stored in a compartment under the upper side of Blast Off's alt-mode.

Usually, the shuttleformer hated to use it.

Onslaught frowned.

"Blast Off!" he growled this time. The unresponsive mech made him seriously angry and caused his fingers to twitch. He was close to punching the cargo hold wall.

The alt-mode arm appeared in the view of the rear windows near the airlock, and took hold of the larger spaceship's nose.

Blast Off needed a few attempts till he was content with the grip, and the movements stopped. Then, the shuttle's thrusters started burning anew.

Blast Off's silence grated on Onslaught. It made Brawl uneasy, the commander knew from the tank shifting on his feet. And Vortex - well, Vortex was probably glad he didn't have to go on the ship, and was looking forward to whatever was about to happen now.

"You're disobeying my orders!" Onslaught stated the obvious, and expected a remark about it, but Blast Off merely agreed.

"I am."

Brawl rubbed his upper arm, and shrugged, glancing at Onslaught, then back into a camera.

"Uh… and… what are you doing exactly?" the tank asked, insecurely.

Three kliks passed before Blast Off bothered to answer. "I'm destroying it. I can't leave it like that."

At that, Onslaught stared at the cockpit door, knowing why Blast Off had locked it before, and feeling weirdly uneasy as well. Not because of the shuttle's odd behaviour, or the dark, looming space vessel that appeared weirdly threatening up close. It was because he realised the shuttle actually thought Onslaught would use the Eden Log codes on him.

And while the commander was angry at the disobedience, he'd never do that. Especially not with the human spaceship not seeming so _human _any more…

"Why didn't you just shoot it?" Brawl asked, and Onslaught wondered the same.

Again, Blast Off took his time to answer, the unreadable edge in his voice still present. "Some things you can't shoot."

Brawl winced.

Everyone kept quiet.

The only sounds were the everyday noises of three root modes, the shuttle's engine, and the creaking of metal due to the stress of dragging a huge metal bulk.

Then something changed. Onslaught felt the strain within the walls around him, and even the atmosphere inside the cargo hold became different. His team mates noticed it as well - the pressure on energon lines, like an underlying ache.

They were too close to the planet.

Blast Off dislodged the Event Horizon, and powered his thrusters even more. The sudden acceleration threw the three mechs at the rear wall.

The shuttle hurried away, both from the celestial body and the spaceship. His engines burned for almost two breems, the silhouette of the black figure becoming smaller and smaller.

It flew closer to the planet, dragged along by its gravitational field, until the force on it became too much. It broke apart. The hull was ripped open, and it was disassembled by gravity into thousand tiny pieces.

They burnt up in the atmosphere.

A shriek reached them from afar. It was neither organic nor robotic, but definitely sentient. A sound that shouldn't exist at all.

It was loud inside the cargo hold, and it was by reflex that Onslaught pressed his hands against his audials. Brawl did the same. Vortex' rotors stopped quivering.

Blast Off's window shutters closed slowly, blocking the view outside.

For a few astroseconds, it was completely dark in the cargo hold, then Blast Off's lights flickered online.

The shuttle's speakers whined in a staticky whimper.

One camera fixed on each of the three Combaticons in the hold. The other cameras roved over the cargo hold walls.

"What was that?" Onslaught asked, trying to keep his wariness hidden.

Blast Off didn't answer.

Vortex, Brawl and Onslaught exchanged worried looks.

The commander tried the cockpit door. It was still locked.

"Blast Off, let us into the cockpit." It was again an order, and again it was ignored. At least for about two kliks.

Blast Off's speakers crackled again. "Please remain in the cargo hold for another short moment until I can be certain nothing got in."

"Huh?" Brawl glanced around hastily, searching for whatever could have entered the shuttleformer. "What do you mean by that?"

The tank sounded as anxious as Onslaught didn't want to admit he was.

Vortex leant against a cargo hold wall, seemingly unimpressed.

Onslaught knew it was fake when the 'copter opened a commline to him and Brawl.

/Blast Off is shivering./

That did nothing to calm any of them.

Brawl sat down, and took out his weapons - one gun, and one rifle. He started to disassemble the gun, and cleaned it, like he always did that when he was nervous.

Vortex remained standing; Onslaught paced.

Three onboard cameras followed each mech's movement, the other roved swiftly through the remaining space.

The _short moment _stretched into over three joors. It ended with Blast Off wordlessly unlocking the cockpit.

Brawl came to his feet instantly, and almost ran inside.

When Onslaught entered, he noticed the windows where shuttered here as well.

"Where are we?" he asked.

The window shutters didn't open, only a screen activated, showing the part of space that Blast Off apparently saw.

With a huff, Onslaught sat down. "Open the shutters," he demanded. It was been bad enough being stuck in the cargo hold for so long, not knowing what was outside, feeling trapped.

Onslaught didn't like it. It was too similar to the sensation of being imprisoned.

But Blast Off didn't open the view. His speakers activated. "I'm going into standby mode. Goodnight."

Some lights on the control console darkened, but the tiny red lamps on the cameras remained online. The lenses stared at each of them once again.

Brawl kept cleaning his weapons - he'd cleaned the rifle four times already by now - and Vortex sat on the floor, leaning against the wall.

The 'copter re-opened the comm.

/He's still shivering./


End file.
